Coin tray and till.



. No. 858,331. PATENTED JUNE 25, 1907. B. F. BREWSTER.

com TRAY AN'D TILL.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 15, 1907.

awuentoz THE NORRIS PETERS cm. umsnmamrv. n. c,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

COIN TRAY AND TILL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

latented June 25, 1907.

Application filed January 15, 1907. $erial No. 352,402.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, BERTRAM F. BREW- sTER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Burrton, in the county of Harvey, and State of Kansas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Coin Trays and Tills, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has for its object to provide an improved construction of coin tray and till which may be used as a tray upon a counter or the like, or as a till in a cash drawer and which is so arranged that one may tell at a glance the aggregate amount of all coins of the different denominations up to a certain number that the tray or till contains and which provides troughs for the reception of coins beyond the aggregate number that may be instantly determined at a glance as well as an improved and novel arrangement of such troughs and adjuncts therefor by which the coins up to a certain amount may be readily dropped into the troughs and held in such an alternate arrangement with respect to each other that coins of any denominations may be readily withdrawn from the tray or till for the purpose of making change 1 or the like.

With this and other objects in view as will more fully appear as the descr ptionproceeds, the inventionconsists in certain constructions and arrangements of the parts hereinafter,

described and particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

For a full understanding of the invention and the merits thereof and also to acquire a knowledge of the details of construction of the means for efiecting the result, reference is to be had to the following description and accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of my improved coin tray and till; and, Fig. 2 1s a transverse sectional view, taken substantially on the line 22 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a detail perspective view of one of the spacing blocks hereinafter specifically referred to. Fig. 4 is a detail view illustrating the alternating arrangement of a number of coins in one of the troughs.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the following description and indicated in all the views of the drawings by the same reference characters.

The tray or till 1 of my invention may be of any desired design, shape, material, or size, and it preferably embodies a rectangular structure or box which is provided on the opposing walls of two of its sides with curved saddles or flanges 2. The troughs 3 are suported at their ends upon these saddles or Eanges 2, said troughs being of diflerent widths or curvatures as shown, so as to accommodate and be particularly designed for coins of the different recognizeddenominations. For instance, the troughs at one end of the tray or till are both intended for the reception of dimes, the next size for pennies, the next for five cent pieces or nickels, the next for twenty-five cent pieces or quarters, the next for fifty cent pieces, and the next for dollars.

Separating the troughs for each denomination are gage bars 4, which are preferably of some flat and comparatively thin metal and which may be secured by screws or the like at their ends to the opposite side of the tray or till. At one end, each of the gage bars 4 is widened as indicated at 5 to project over one of the two adjacent trays and in such widened portion of each bar a series of rectangular notches 6 is formed, said notches extending parallel with each other as shown. The notches in the gage bar are sli htly wider than the tooth between them, an each tooth is about as wide as the coin it is intended to support, but considering the teeth and notches together, they are of substantially the same width as their number or quota of unworn coins. These widened notched portions of the bars are provided with numbers or figures that are preferably displayed only in alinement with the several notches, so that they may be comparatively large and they are graduated to indicate the number of coins adapted to stand upright or on ed e in this portion of the tray and till, as w'l be hereinafter described.

It will be noted that the gage bar 4 which projects over one of the dime trays is numbered 20, 40, etc., up to 200, indicating the number of dimes representing twenty cents up to two dollars. The next bar for the tray is numbered from 2 to 20, and the next for edgewise, over the teeth and the notches of one of the bars, permit the coins to fall alternately one in the slot of the bar and one next to it will rest in a higher plane on the tooth, and so on, leaving the edges of the coins in a manner resembling the notches and the teeth of the bar. Should a person thus using the improved tray and till have between his thumb and finger more than two dollars in dimes, for instance, the edges of the other dimes will fall evenly into the trough beyond the two dollar mark on the gage bar. And, on the other hand, if he should have less than two dollars, he will be able to tell instantly how much he has in that trough of the till by the indicia which is stamped on the bar, preferably like those on a squareor rule.

It will thus be seen that up to a certain amount with respect to each denomination, the merchant or clerk will be able to instantly tell the aggregate sum represented by the number of coins in the tray and till, that up to these amounts of coins, a coin will be held in conv enient position for withdrawal at any time, and that the trays which are not provided with a gage bar and the portions of the trays that are so provided that are not covered partially by the widened portions 5 provide means also for the reception of coinsv of different denominations in convenient position for withdrawing any of them for makin change or the like.

I in addition to the foregoing parts, I provide, as illustrated in the drawing, a number of dividing blocks 7, a set for each set of trays, said blocks being of different sizes for the difierent denominations, and being designed for insertion between the coins at different points so as to keep certain amounts separated.

It is obvious that my improved tray and till may be used in connection with a cash drawer or as conveniently as a tray upon a counter or the like, and for this latter purpose, it will be provided with combined corner fasteners and legs 8 which may be constructed of angle metal as shown, and which may support the tray in a slightly elevated position.

As illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, each gage bar is provided with an extended finger 10 ranging parallel with the to edge of the side of the tray and slightly e evated from the same and curved slightly upward from a point at the outer edge of the first tooth of the bar. These fingers 10 are about as long as the respective troughs are wide and are intended to prevent getting the coins past the edge of the tray and till and to guide them in striking the teeth and notches squarely.

As has been before stated, each trough is of a curvature corresponding to the coin which it is intended to hold. The gage bar of each trough extends over the trough to a certain extent, so that it is obvious that the coins inserted edgewise in the notches will not rest on the bottom of the trough, but will rest between the end of a notch, and the opposite edge of the trough. Every other coin will rest between the end of a tooth and the opposite edge of the trough and the entire column of coins supported by the alternating teeth and notches will be held in. a higher plane than those coins that are in the open portion of the trough and coins of such column will be held in an alternating arrange ment one slightly higher than the other. Fig. 4; brings out this arrangement clearly. In placing a stack or column of coins edgewise on the gage bars, the fingers 1.0 act as gages to determine the position 01' one end ol' the column or stack so that the coins of such column or stack will fall accurately into the several notches and against the ends of the several teeth.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. A device of the character described, embodying a trough for the reception of coins, and a gage bar projecting over said trough from one edge and terminating short of the opposite edge and formed with a series of alternating teeth and notches which are of substantially the thickness of the individual coins adapted to be received in said. trough and which are adapted to hold a series of coins upright in alternatim arrangement between the ends of the notc hes and the o )po site edge of the trough and the ends 0 the teeth and the opposite edge of the trough.

2. A device of the character described, embodying troughs arranged side by side and gage bars separating said troughs one from the other, each gage bar being provided at one end with a widened portion projecting over one trough, said widened portions being provided with alternatin teeth and notches approximately of a width equal to the width ol the coins adapted to stand edgewisc between the ends of the notches and teeth and the opposing edge of the trough.

3. A device of the character described, comprising a box and a series of troughs of different curvatures arranged in said box and adapted to receive coins of dil'lerent denominations and gage bars projecting over sundry of said troughs from one edge and terminat ing short of the opposite edge, each of said gage bars being formed at one end with a series of alternating teeth and notches, whereby a column of coins rolled edgewise over the ICC) said end of the gage bar will fall alternately between the ends of the notches and the optween the ends of the teeth and notches and the opposing edge of the trough, said gage bar being also formed at one end with a laterally extending finger, as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I affiX my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

BERTRAM F. BREWSTER.

Witnesses:

T. B. CoBUN, W. D. PAINE. 

